The Island's Food Bloggers

Two weeks back, I received an email from Gwenda of The Adventures of the Tastebuds, and subsequently also from June at Nibble & Scribble calling Singapore food bloggers to come together for a meal. That was a really nice surprise! I replied immediately "Yes! Yes!", but closer to the date of the luncheon, I must admit that I had reservations. After all, isn't blogging supposed to offer some form of anonymity, and here I am, going out to expose the face of Eatzy Bitzy... hmm.. but eventually the curiosity of meeting other food bloggers whose blogs I have been enjoying and salivating over the last couple of months overcame all other reservations.

So, with a 'heck' and a toss of my head, I entered Mag's Wine Kitchen at 86 Circular Road (our lunch venue) and had a really enjoyable lunch with 11 other very warm, funny and witty bloggers, June and Gwenda of course, CheatEat, Kuidaore, Dim Sum Dolly, AromaCookery, Umami, She Bakes and She Cooks, Kitchen Crazy Daffy, Como Queiras and Chubby Hubby (not chubby at all in comparison to my own hubby, and for this lunch the single rose among the thorns?). Any reservation I may have had earlier of stilted conversation flew out the window - there was so much chatter and laughter around the table that anyone walking in would not have figured us to be strangers at the table! As we swapped histories, culinary background (or lack thereof), places to eat and shop for cooking ingredients, stories of surreptitious photo-taking in restaurants, hawker-centres, and more food stories, it was very clear that this would not be the first and only floggers' luncheon.

There was also Serene, an ST reporter who together with Chubby Hubby had really impressive professional looking cameras, very unlike my itzy bitzy Pentax S40i (in fact, quite intimidated that I didn't have the courage to remove from bag and shoot any pics!).

Not forgetting the lunch, the degustation menu prepared by Mag's was lovely, starting off with

• Grilled Belly of Swordfish with Pickled Fennel, going on to
  
• Seared Sea Scallop served with Soy Mirin Dressing, going on to
• Smoked Duck on Arugula, going on to
• Seared Beef Tenderloin Slices served with Buttered Spinach, Caramelized Baby Carrots and Veal Jus, and finally ending off with
• Cream Caramel

For the lovely salivating pictures, please proceed directly to Chubby Hubby's post on the Singapore Floggers Lunch - after seeing his shots, I'm glad I didn't whip out my camera, my amateurish shots would not have done justice to the dishes. All the dishes had good mix of flavours but my absolute fav has got to be the smoked duck with its tender pinkish meat and that top layer of gorgeous tongue-melting fat!

Many many thanks to the organizers, Chubby Hubby, June and Gwenda. Also to the sponsors, one of which was Veuve Clicquot - oops, did I forget to mention that we had several sponsored bottles of Veuve Clicquot Rich Reserve 1998? What luxury, free-flow champagne for lunch (I can't remember how many times my glass was topped up)! And also not forgetting the other sponsor, BATS Singapore, who had so generously sponsored the goodie bag for each of us (yup, you read right - we had goodie bags) which included a Staub spatula, and also 4 lucky draw prizes (yup, you don't have to read this twice - it's true!) of a Staub Chocolate Fondue set, a Chroma Chef's Knife, a Staub Oval Dish and a Staub Cocotte.

And guest what, moi won the Staub Oval Dish (see pic below) - I'm like in 9th heaven and can't wait to try it out!

To all the Island Food Bloggers that I met, you guys are a really cool (as in 'impressive') and warm (as in 'really nice') bunch... cheers to your food-blogging adventures until we next meet!